Car roof



Patented Feb. 5, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT ornca;

CHARLES DAVID BONSALL, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA ASSIGNOB TO I. E. JIURPEY COMPANY, OF-NEW KENSINGTON, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION 02' PENNSYLVANIA.

OAR ROOF.

Application filed June 80, 1922. Serial No. 572,084.

To all whom. it may concern:

Be it known that I, Cnannns DAVID BON- sALL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Pittsburgh, county of Allegheny, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Imrovement in Car Roofs, of which the folowing is a specification.

This invention relates to car roofs of the all-steel riveted-up type wherein the roofing sheets extend from side plate to side plate of the car and are rigidl secured thereto and are rigidly connecte to each other by upstanding water proofing scams or 'oints that function as carlines.

e of the principal objects of the present invention is to increase the strength and rigidit of the roof by improvin the sectional s ape and arrangement the seam or joint construction. Other objects are to simplify the construction of the roof and to eheapen the cost of manufacture. The invention consists rincipally inthe improved .weather proo ng seam or joint construction hereinafter shown and described; and it also consists in the parts and arrangements and combinations of parts hereinafter described and. claimed.

In the accom anyin drawing, wherein like symbols re or to ike parts wherever the occur,

l ig. 1 is a lan view of a portion of a car roof embo yin my invention;

Fig. 2 is an en arged transverse section through one half of. theroof, the section beiii g' taken between seams on the line 2-2 in 1 1' Fig. 3 a vertical cross-section through one of the seams at the ridge on the line 8-3 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 1s a similar section through the seam midwarof the ridge and eaves on the line 4-4 in 1g. 2 3

Fig. 5 is a similar section through the seam at the side plate on the line 4-4 in Fi 2; and

igs. 6, 7 and 8 are vertical cross-sections throu h a modified form of cam construction, t e sections being taken at points corresponding to the lines of sections 3-3, 44 an 5-5 respectively, in Fig. 1.

The roof shown in Figs. 1 to 5 of the accompanying drawing comprises metallic load sustaining roof sheets 10, which extend transversely of the car from eaves to eaves thereof and have drip-flanges 11 depending from their eaves ends. The roof sheets are supported at their eaves ends on the outwardly rejecting uppermost flanges of angle bar si e plates 12 and are suitably secured thereto by rivets 13. The side marginal portion of each roof sheet is raised above the bed portion of the sheet preferably in the orm of a seam flange A of substantially inverted L-shaped section; that is, said pressed up marginal portion has a nearly vertical web portion 14 at the top of which is an outwardly projecting lateral flange 15.

The web portions 14 of the side marginal flanges or ribs A of each sheet converge towards each other on each side of the rid e towards the caves and are deepest at t e ridge and gradually decrease in de th towards the eaves where they merge a ruptly into the plane of the sheet; and the lateral flanges have a minimum width at the ridge and widen gradually towards the eaves where they mer abruptly into the plane of the sheet. us, the roof sheet flanges or stiffening ribs A decrease in depth and increase in width uniformly from the rid towards the eaves and have downwar y curved eaves end portions that merge into the plane of the sheets where the eaves ends thereof are turned down to form the dripflan cs 11. It is noted that the reverse taper of e rtions 14 and 15 of the side marnal King-es of the roof sheets rmits t. e use of all of the metal contain in the rectangular sheet blank without the ex ense of trimmin the blank to a special 8 ape before pressing.

In assembling the roof sheets upon the car a slight space is left between the side marginal flanges of adjacent sheets; and said flanges are covered by caps 16, preferably of heavier gage metal than said roof sheets. These caps are also pressed from blanks of uniform width and are of inverted channel shape section; that is, each cap has a horizontal web portion, that rests on the seam flanges of adjacent sheets, and depending side marginal flanges that bear flatwise against the web portions of said seam flanges. The caps are rigidly secured to the outwardly flanged portion 15 of the seam flanges or ribs of adjacent sheets by two rows of vertical rivets 17 to form rigid water proofing scams 01' joints. The web portion of the caps have a. minimum width at the ridge and widen gradually to the eaves, whereby the depending side marginal flanges of said cap diverge from each other on opposite sides of the ridge towards the eaves at angles that correspond to the angles of the web ortions 14 of the seam flanges that are em raced by said caps.

The caps extend from eaves to eaves of the car and have downwardly curved eaves end portions that correspond to the downwardly curved eaves end portions of the roof sheet fl es and are formed with depending eaves flanges 18 that overlap the joints between the depending drip-flanges 11 of adjacent roof sheets. As the width of the caps increase from the ridge towards the eaves, there is a corresponding decrease in the depth of the depending side flange of said caps from the ridge towards the eaves. At points adjacent to the eaves the side flanges of the caps reach the plane of the sheets and are turned outwardly to form lateral flanges 19; and the surplus of metal resulting from the downwardly curved eaves end portions of the caps is utilized in increasing the width of said flan towards the ends of the caps.

Running cards 20 extend longitudinally of the car at the ridge and are securely bolted to the upwardly oflset marginal flanges of running board saddles 21, which rest on and are rigidly secured to the tops of the seams by the rivets 17 that secure the caps 16 to the ro f sheet flanges.

In the modified seam or joint construction shown in Figs. 6 to 8, the roof sheet flanges A gradually decrease in depth from rid to eaves, but said flanges, together with e caps 16 are of substantially uniform width from caves to eaves. The caps 16" are similar to the caps 16; that is, the caps 16 are of substantially channel-shaped section and have downwardly curved eaves end portions provided with dependin eaves flanges; but the caps 16 are of su antially uniform width and depth and have lateral flanges 19 at their eaves ends that are wider than the corresponding flanges 19 of the ca 16 and are rigidly secured to the adjacent ody portions of the sheets by the rivets 13 that secure the eaves ends of said sheets to the side plates. This form of scam or joint construction necessitates shearing of the sheet and the cap blanks to a special shape before preming.

By the arrangement described, the roof sheets are rigidly secured together by caps that cooperate with the raised seam flanges or strengthening ribs of the roof sheets to form rigid water proofing seams or joints of inverted channel shaped section which act after the manner of carlines to increase the the roof and serve load carrying capacity of as frame members to brace and stiffen the car-body. It is noted that the strength and rigidity of the sheets.

roof joints is increased by the use of caps of heavier gage than the roof It is also noted that the depending side flanges of the caps are adapted to bear against the side flanges of the roof sheets,

whereby the friction between the contacting surfaces of the caps and roof sheet flanges resists relative sliding of the caps and seam flanges and has the effect of, increasing the resistance to stresses that tend to shear the securing rivets.

Another advantage resulting from the use of the caps is that it enables a wide joint to be obtained without the use of wide roof sheet flanges.

The invention is not restricted to the particular shapes and arrangements of parts shown in the drawing.

What I claim is: 1. A rigid car roof sheets whose adjacent comprising metal roof marginal portions are spaced apart and provided with upstanding flanges, and cap strips connecting the space upstanding flanges of adjacent sheets and positively secured thereto standing seams or oints.

to form hollow up- 2. A rigid car roof comprising self-sustaining metal roof marginal portions are sheets whose adjacent spaced apart and provided with upstanding flanges, and cag strips of varying depth embracing the space upstanding flanges of adjacent sheets and rigidly secured thereto to form hollow upstanding scams or joints of yarymg depth.

3. A rigid car roof comprising metal roof sheets whose adjacent margins are s apart and provided with upstanding flan%s that are narrowest midway of their en connecting the spaced upand cap strips standing flanges of adjacent sheets and rigidly secured thereto to ing scams or joints that are way of their ends.

4. A car roof comprising form hollow upstandnai'rowest mid- 11' roof sheets extending from eaves to eaves, the side marginal portions of above the body portions of cap strips rigidly connecting the raised side said sheets being disposed the sheets, and

marginal portions of adjacent sheets and cooperating therewith to form hollow'eeams or joints that function as cal-lines.

5. A car roof comprising tending from caves to caves of the car and the side marginal rigidly secured thereto,

roof sheets exportions of adjacent sheets being spaced apart and formed into raised 11 tially inverted L-ehaped verted channel shaped cap of substansection and an inembracing the Ill marginal flanges of adjacent sheets and rigstrip of channel-shaped section of correidly secured thereto to form hollow weather apondingly increased width and decreased proofing joints.

egth from the rigge towards the eaves. l 6. A oint cap for a car roof comprising a bigned at New ensington, Pa", this 26th I strip of channel-shaped section whose wi th day of June, 1922.

increases from its middle toward its ends.

7. A joint cap for'car roof comprising 9. CHARLES DAVID BONSALL.

Certificate of Correction. It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1 1924, upon the application of Charles D for an improvement in Car Roofs, requiring correction as of var ing de th 102; an that t e that the same me ,482 782, granted February 5, avid Bonsai]; of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, ppears in the printed specification 03, claim 2, strike out the words ow after the word flinges line an error :1 follows: Page 2, line 1 and insert the same to fell said Letters Patent should b e read with this correction therein conform to the record of the case in the Patent Ofiiee. Signed and se ed this 18th day of March, A. D., 1924.

[sun] KARL FENN IN G, Acting Gomma'em'oner of Patents. 

